melanthace^e. (colchicum family.) 475 



length of the slightly bent peduncle ; anthers 2-horned ; stigma 3-cleft. — Cold 



damp woods ; common northward, and in the Alleghanies southward. May. 



Smaller than the last. 



Suborder II. ITIEEArYTHIEJE. True Colchicum Family. 



4. MELANTHIUM, Gronov., L. Melanthium. 



Flowers monceciously polygamous. Perianth of 6 separate and free widely 

 spreading somewhat heart-shaped or oblong and halberd-shaped sepals, raised on 

 Blender claws, cream-colored, the base marked with 2 approximate or confluent 

 glands, turning greenish-brown and persistent. Filaments shorter than the 

 sepals, adhering to their claws often to near their summit, persistent. Styles 

 awl-shaped, diverging, tipped with simple stigmas. Pod ovoid-conical, 3-lobed, 

 of 3 inflated membranaceous carpels united in the axis, separating when ripe, 

 and splitting down the inner edge, several-seeded. Seeds flat, broadly winged. 

 — Stem simple (3° -5° high), from a somewhat bulbous base, roughish-downy 

 above, as well as the open and ample pyramidal panicle (composed chiefly of 

 simple racemes), the terminal part mostly fertile. Leaves lanceolate or linear, 

 grass-like, those from the root broader. (Name composed of peXas, black, and 

 avdos, flower, from the dark color which the persistent perianth assumes after 

 blossoming.) 



1. M. Virgmicum, L. (Bunch-flower.) (M. Virginicum & raco- 

 mosum, Michx. Leimanthium Virginicum, Willd. L. Virg. & hybriduin, 

 Boem. $• Schult., Gray, Melanth.) — Wet meadows, Southern New York to Illi- 

 nois, and common southward. July. — The two received species are doubtless 

 forms of one. 



5. ZYOADENVS, Michx. Ztgadenb. 



Flowers perfect. Perianth withering-persistent, spreading ; the petal-like ses- 

 sile or slightly clawed oblong or ovate sepals 1 - 2-glandular next the more or 

 less narrowed base, which is either free, or united and coherent with the base of 

 the ovary. Stamens free from the sepals and about their length. Styles and 

 pod nearly as in Melanthium. Seeds margined or slightly winged. — Very 

 smooth and somewhat glaucous perennials, with simple stems from creeping 

 rootstocks or coated bulbs, linear leaves, and pretty large panic-led greenish- 

 white flowers. (Name composed of fvyos, a yoke, and ah{]v, a gland.) 

 * Glands on the perianth conspicuous. 



1. Z. glaberrinaus, Michx. Stems 1° -3° high, from a creeping root- 

 stock ; leaves grass-like, channelled, conspicuously nerved, elongated, tapering to 

 a point ; panicle pyramidal, many-flowered ; perianth nearly free ; the sepals 

 (2' lon S) ovate, becoming lance-ovate, with a pair of orbicular glands above the 

 short claw-like base. — Grassy low grounds, S. Virginia (Pursh) and southward. 

 July. 



2. Z. glailCUS, Nutt. Stem about l°-3° high from a coated bulb; leaves 

 fiat ; panicle simple, mostly few-flowered ; base of the perianth coherent with the 



